I looked out the window of my newest foster home. This one at least didn't smell bad. The roommates hadn't threatened to kill me yet so that was always a good thing.
I actually didn't feel like stabbing them either so I guess that's even better. Psychologists keep saying that as long as I never intended on acting on these thoughts then it was just a way of mentally expressing my anger, or something.
But today, meeting my new roommates, I felt semi-happy. I wasn't completely miserable. It's been a long time since I've felt a little happy.
My name is Piper Edith Green. Or so I thought it was. Don't worry I wasn't abducted as a child. But I was hidden.
From my father.
When my mother told me the reason I completely understood. Victor Zsasz isn't exactly the ideal father after all.
And life went on.
I would've loved it if I was just one of those cases where I was taken away from my mother, so in a couple years I could just reunite with her again. Sadly I'm not. My mother was killed by her abusive boyfriend.
He was clever, he made her wear makeup and hide the bruises. He never hit her when I was around. I was so stupid to not tell something was wrong though.
Too late for that now I guess.
The court wouldn't even think of allowing my father to take custody.
Don't blame them.
This city wasn't like mother said it was. She always spoke of Metropolis as being bright and happy, and that you always felt safe. I can understand how she saw it that way. Superman was meant to be a beacon of light, a protector. To me he was exactly what attracted trouble in the first place.
I don't feel safe here.
I don't feel safe anywhere.
"Piper?" A voice suddenly snatched me away from my thoughts.
"Hmm? What?" I turned to Gracie, one of my new roommates.
"Are you okay?" I nodded slightly.
"Yeah ah'm fine, Ah jus' need some air." I put on a jacket and slid my feet into some flats.
"Is there no air inside?" She asked following me out of the room.
"Ya know what ah meant." I hissed back, perhaps too harshly. I'm going to be so popular here.
I slipped on my pair of ballet flats and walked out the door. The night air was soothing. I walked for a few blocks before I realised I was being followed.
I know it was a really stupid move. When I look back at that moment I wonder why I would choose the most cliché way to screw myself over. I turned into an alley.
There happened to be a woman already waiting there. She looked like she had been expecting me.
When I tried to turn back, the man who had been following was already there.
"Piper Zsasz. That is your name, no?" The woman asked as she approached. Her accent was thick. Russian I think.
"How d'ya know that?"
"I know many things. I know that your mother was killed and you felt useless when you couldn't revive her. I know that you want to feel safe again. I know that you are going to meet a girl named Mila in a couple of days. And because of this I need you to do something for me." That last one was pretty specific.
"Who's Mila?" She smiled and handed me a card.
"Come to my lab tomorrow if you want to stop feeling helpless." The man behind me was finally close enough for me to get a better look at him. His mouth was completely stitched over. It was kind of freaky.
Whoever these people are, they've sparked my interest.
I stood outside the building and observed. It was so secluded compared to the rest of the city. Like it was trying to hard to suspicious. I finally mustered up the courage to walk up to the building and a man was ready to meet me at the door.
"We've been expecting you." The man said as he opened the door for me.
"Coz that's not creepy at all." He rolled his eyes at me.
"Well you were standing five metres away for almost ten minutes. What was your conclusion?" This guy's nice enough. It was calming.
"I figured I'd hate myself if never went in." Then there was the blonde woman. She wore a lab coat and looked very pleased to see me.
"Piper, darling." Eww, I hate when people are overly nice. Using words like darling or sweetie. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you."
"But ya knew ya would, right?" She smiled.
"You catch on quick. But no, I can't see my future. I had no idea whether you'd come or not." The guard left, went back to his post or something. "Come, I want to show you something."
She took me through the halls, passing many rooms. I actually think I heard screaming from one of them. We stopped about halfway through the hall and she opted for me to open the door myself. If this chick wasn't confusing enough, what was inside just confused me more.
"These are the orphans. My most powerful projects. Adalyn, Kaitlyn and Evelyn." Three girls, ranging in age from about ten to three were sitting in the room. The middle one looked up at me, almost in a trance. I smiled at her and she burst into tears.
"What did I do?" She led me out and closed the doors.
"A minor side effect of her powers. Nothing to worry about." I stopped wanting to go back.
"What power does she have? Is she okay?" This woman's smile was unwavering.
"She saw how you die. She sees how everyone dies, but only when she looks into their eyes." That poor girl.
"What do the others do?"
"Adalyn, the oldest, can manipulate darkness. I think they're calling it umbrakinesis or something. Evelyn, the youngest, she appears to have the intelligence level of Ray Palmer." I don't know who that is but I'll just nod along because she said it like it was common knowledge.
"So why am I here?" Oh yes, because that wasn't obvious already. Past me was really stupid. I promise I'll stop interrupting.
"We'd like to run an experiment on you." And this is where my life got really flipped upside down. Like even more than before.
"What you got in mind?" I should never have asked that, it should just said 'maybe I'll think about it' and never return. Like I said, past me was stupid. Or I could just blame whoever wrote me this way.
I woke from the experiment not feeling any different at first until I sat up. All at once I felt enlightened. I knew what I was, I knew where I was and I was suddenly aware of everyone's emotions. The blonde woman was next to me, monitoring a screen.
"You handled the serum well, most men have come out screaming."
"Is the realisation too much for them?"
She looked at me confused for a moment. "Realisation of what?"
She doesn't know? Maybe it was a side-affect. "Of the power they now had."
"You can manipulate the emotions of anyone, and I have the perfect test for you." I stood up, feeling a little dizzy. It wore of quickly and The blonde lead me out of the lab. She took me to a room where there was a few bags and a tall man. "This is Stanley, he'll be monitoring you while you're on missions for me. Every week you report back to me. We took the liberty of retrieving your things and then some."
"And then some?"
"We bought you some new clothes. You will need to go very deep undercover." I feel like a spy. "We'll see you next week."
Is been luring a guy for days. He thinks he's tracking me, learning my patterns and figuring the best place to attack. I was spoon feeding him. He already had the potential to make an attack like this, I just gave him a little push. He followed me into the alley and I smiled, but let it disappear as I turned to him.
"Woah, I'm completely at your mercy." I tried to bite down a smile but couldn't help but laugh as he grabbed my throat.
"Looks like someone doesn't understand the circumstances." He growled at me. I just smiled back at him.
"I know right, he's a real idiot." My eyes were crazy wide. I could feel his anger growing, I technically didn't manipulate that.
I could suddenly feel more emotion. Someone else. Time to begin the show.
I willed more anger into the man before me and he pushed me against the wall with a knife against my throat.
"Don't ya know who am!" I screamed at him. "Mah father will have your head if he found out about this. I'll tell him to kill ya slowly!"
"That's big talk for a girl I watched go into a foster home earlier today." I gulped for show. Ha! I've never even met my father.
"Put her down and I think about making this quick." The girl announced drawing his attention to them.
"You two better scram before I beat your asses."
"Scram? Who says that. Have you been watching Lady and the Tramp mate?" I heard a snicker from the boy.
"Seriously are you sure your not meant to be Robin?" The girl shot the man before me in the leg and he fell the the floor. I dusted myself off and found my 'heroes' bickering. The man who had me before was still screaming. It was pathetic. I whipped a knife out while the vigilantes were preoccupied. In a split second it was lodged in his throat, silencing him.
They both stared at me shocked and I felt the need to defend myself. "I know he woulda bled ta death soon but he was bein' too loud."
"It's, fine. They'll call it self defence. Don't worry." The girl reassured. She turned back to the boy. "So, your name?"
"Not tellin'."
"Alright, go home." The girl walked over to me smiling. "How about instead of that Foster home you crash at mine for the night."
"Nah, I'm good. Go save someone else." She crossed my arms at me. "Seriously, don't worry."
They left me there and I pulled out my phone. I dialled a number. "I've got eyes on the target. Do you want me to track her?"
"Negative, we need you to identify her. We're enrolling you at school." I didn't really like that idea, but I don't want to disappoint on my first mission.
"Okay, I'll return to the apartment." I hung up the phone and looked at the moon.